The Becker City Council Tuesday discussed health care dwellings, a compensation study, second quarter financials and the purchase of some flooring for the BCC.

 

Treasurer Sarah Brunn presented council with her second quarter financials for the city which included a few changes she made and a more detailed forecast report for Pebble Creek Golf Course.

 

Brunn attached documents to her presentation that showed a YTD summary of revenues and expenditures. She also identified the fund balances of general, fire, BCC and utilities as of June 30.

 

The final document was a summary of the revolving capital fund that involves general/admin CIP, police, public works, streets, parks, BCC, golf course, insurance, environmental and future improvement balances.

 

Brunn pointed out to council a few key factors including a five percent improvement in utility charges so far and a forecasted favorable balance for the golf course by the end of the year.

 

Health Care Dwellings

City Clerk Julie Blesi asked council to call for a public hearing to consider changing the city ordinance to opt out of the state statute requiring temporary health care dwellings.

 

Council voted in favor of the action and a public hearing was set for Sept. 6.

 

On May 12 of this year, Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law Chapter 111, which created a new permit and permitting process that local governments must follow to allow for a specific type of temporary transitional housing (ie: granny pods), unless the local government takes official action to opt out. 

 

Blesi said the planning commission had a discussion on the subject recently and recommended the city opt out.

 

Council Member Rick Hendrickson said the reason to “opt out is so the city can control it.”

 

Brunn said a compensation study has been completed and the final step in the process is setting an implementation date. She mentioned council had already accepted the study which includes job descriptions and the report back in May. Following that meeting, the budget and finance committee reviewed the step schedule and was presented with cost figures to be implemented by Oct. 1.

 

Brunn said department heads also received the cost figures and were asked for any comments or concerns. 

 

The total cost for the implementation in the 2016 budget is approximately $4,200. This figure includes wages and benefits (PERA, FICA).

 

Brunn said the department heads indicated no concerns absorbing this into their 2016 budgets. The 2017 and 2018 budgets were figured using this proposed step schedule, Brunn  said.

 

Mayor Kleis voted “naye” to the comp study mainly becuase he didn’t agree the director of golf should be at a higher pay scale than the chief of police. Kleis also indicated since the golf course is a seasonal entity and all other employees at the golf course are hired as seasonal employees, he thinks the director of golf should be a seasonal employee too.

 

Council voted 4-1 in favor of the study with Kleis in opposition.

 

Jamie Cassidy asked council to approve a resolution approving the project cost not to exceed $33,000 to resurface the pool decking surface.

 

Cassidy said the pool decking surface is aging, fading and cracking and is an unsightly maintenance and safety issue. He said he and his staff have been meeting with professional contractors who specialize in pool deck resurfacing to find the best solution for the needs of the BCC.

 

Cassidy said he also held a “walk-through” with the parks and recreation commission and they looked at several area of flooring that appear to need resurfacing. After deliberation, the pool decking area was determined to be in high need of fixing.

 

Four contractors submitted bids for the job with SwedePro of Ham Lake having the lowest bid at $28,000. Cassidy mentioned the resolution is for $33,000 because another $5,000 would be needed to do in-house miscellaneous work prior to SwedePro’s construction.

 

Originally, BCC staff estimated the flooring project to cost around $40,000 and Cassidy said the funds are already approved in this year’s CIP budget.

 

Council approved and Cassidy said the flooring project will take place the week of Sept. 5-9, which coincides with the BCC’s lowest attended time of the year.

 

• City Hall will be closed Mon., Sept. 5 for Labor Day;

 

• The local Beyond the Yellow Ribbon organization will be holding a picnic at city park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to honor Vietnam-era veterans;

 

• Roger Bigalke of the Becker American Legion is planning on contacting the high school to find interested artists to paint a mural on the doors of the Legion hall;

 

• Josh Severson of the parks and rec committee asked council to consider discussing the idea of opening an archery range somewhere in the Becker area;

 

• John Riebel gave a commissioner update in which he mentioned the county will be raising the levy from 1.4% to around 4% in the near future to help offset the costs associated with the courthouse expansion;

 

• A member of the Becker Area Senior Center gave council an update on the BASC and their activities and told all those in attendance some of the things the seniors are doing including playing 500, celebrating birthdays, learning to sew and crochet, making dresses for missions, woodcarving, painting, making Christmas cards for the military and making coasters and pot holders.

 

The next Becker City Council meeting is Sept. 6 at 6 p.m.